Correction: The original version of the item on New Vision incorrectly identified Veronica Mechem as Veronica Mechum.

Two stay-at-home soccer moms in Fresno have decided to take their love of interior home design to the next level by starting a design and staging business called New Vision.

Veronica Mechem and Amber Gorman have been friends since their daughters started playing soccer together five years ago. But the kids are older now and the women decided it was time to work.

It started with redesigning Gorman's family room around a couch, then repainting the walls, Mechem said. The women also redecorated rooms for family and friends. The feedback from people who saw the transformations, which ranged from decluttering to rearranging furniture, moving pictures and new paint, was positive, both women said.

They started the business three months ago. Neither woman is certified in staging or interior design, but hope their work will speak for itself.

"We'll use our live experience," Gorman said.

The owners are working with real estate agents to stage empty houses and with homeowners to prepare their homes for sale. They also help homeowners redesign rooms on a budget.

"My passion is the middle homeowner," Mechem said. "I want to show the middle average person that their house can be nice and they don't have to spend a ton of money."

Coffee shop shuffle

A pair of restaurants in Selma and Kingsburg are sporting new names in a shuffling among the Brooks Ranch family of eateries.

Joe McCoy, the owner of the Brooks Ranch Coffee Shop on Floral Avenue in Selma, recently changed the name to McCoy's Coffee Shop. Prolific Fresno restaurateur Chic Brooks, now 86, started the restaurant, "and I hired Joe McCoy more than 30 years ago," he said. McCoy later bought the place and licensed the Brooks Ranch name.

Another of Brooks' enterprises, Jeb's Hill Country Cookin' on Sierra Street in Kingsburg, closed on Feb. 18 and reopened Friday as a Brooks Ranch Restaurant. Brooks said customers can expect to see a new exterior decor and a new menu along with the name change.

Brooks founded the Happy Steak chain in 1964 and later developed the Perko's and Country Waffles chains in addition to the Brooks Ranch brand. He now directly owns eight restaurants, including another Kingsburg place, Jeb's Swedish Creamery, and a Jeb's Hill Country Cookin' restaurant in Sonora.

Recruiting boost

Two former Fresno State student athletes are launching a new Internet-based venture aimed at helping high school students get recruited by college coaches.

The company, called GetMeATeam.com, is expected to launch on April 4.

Anastasia Petukhova, CEO of the company, and Laura Pola, director of communications, are very familiar with playing tennis at the highest levels in college and they also know how difficult it is to earn a college athletic scholarship.

Pola said that their company helps student athletes understand the overall process of recruiting, provides detailed information about colleges and creates an online profile to help market them to prospective colleges.

The company charges students a $125 annual fee.

"With so many athletes out there, it can be difficult to be recruited," Pola said. "But we have created something that makes this process a lot easier."